Official Luthiers Forum!

Not sure what happened. But, I could not log on. Lance was great! He tried tinkering with it but either there was a ghost in the machine or my stupid was in high gear. Either way, while starting over I figured I would switch to my real name. Yep, Kitchen. John Kitchen. I have a brother named Den, and a Dad that had a wicked sense of humor.
I have been self employed as a Pro Photographer for over 25 years. I could never use "Kitchen Photography" Too specialized. I came up with the lower case "i" thing 23 years ago as a biz called iSimon PHOTOGRAPHY. If I only had snagged the lower i case thing! BUT - as a guitar builder my name could make me dough! "Every one has a Living room guitar..... now you need a Kitchen Guitar!"
Anyway, I sold 1 (my 3rd was a commission). I have 2 on order (kinda 3) and as my I want to build project I started building Tenors.
I would like to do a production of eight+. If they are up to snuff I will sell them. If not, donations/promotion...... I got the first one to finishing in under 1 month. Till then each build I have done has been a year. 9 months frozen in fear (studying) 3 months working slow. #1 Tenor taps like she will sound great. I will find out soon enough. #2 I am Jigging much more as opposed to winging it.
Here is #1 Leapord Wood, Crazy Bear Claw Sitka (Thanks Todd!), Walnut / Oak neck



Questions;
If you have built a Tenor... Tips?

I bought a "Tenor Tailpiece off of eBay. Its comical. I read the title but not the 4" Length thing. I ended making my own tail piece. While happy with the result, IS THERE ANYWHERE to score Tenor Tailpieces?

Thanks. Glad to be back!

I was actually amazed at how much the local musicians LOVE tenor guitars... I figured my Tenor would sit around unplayed for months till the owner of the music shop hit me up to take it back home.... Not so - I had a call about 3 hours after I dropped off and it was gone in 1.5 days... and a couple other people asked me if I had any more....

It seems like they fill a musical Niche that was left empty when the Banjo fell out of favor in more modern music... Kinda like a mandolin, but not a Mando either... If you consider the tuning of the Banjo and it's harmony with voice...

Since you are using a tailpiece and a movable bridge - intonation won't be such a black hole as it is for a fixed bridge model... decide what strings and tuning you plan to use (there are about 50 different ones) so you can intonate the bridge right...

Thanks

Looks like it will be a very pretty instrument.

_________________
"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

John,
Sounds like Kitchen Guitars will be a great fit for a down home 'kitchen party'!
Best of luck with the venture.
Cheers!
Rick

Tenor guitars will be making a comeback, I think.
Bass players will love it when the guitar player doesn't get in his way.
I'm building a tenor Weiss style.
I've thought about this for a while.